Applicator tool



Nov. 29, 1955 F-. w. GERARD ETAL 2,725,089

APPLICATOR TOOL Filed NOV. 25, 1952 56 44 5 INVENTOR.

Frank W. Gerard Leo J. FifzHarris APPLICATOR TOOL Frank W. Gerard, Oakwood, and Leo JrFitz HarriSyDayton, Ohio, assignors to General 'Motors, Corporation, De ro M pora ion Pf-Del ware Application mbe .51 S r a NQ- 22,

4 Claims. e1, E a- 6 This invention relates to, an applicator.- tool for apply: inga tension element suchas .a cord'to anobject.

There are places where. it is desired-to, apply or to fix a tension element such as ,a special purpose cord to the interior or exterior surface of. an object. It-.is corn.- paratively difiicult and slow to apply such an element at the exact place desired by hand;

It is an object of our invention to provide a simple inexpensive tool by which tension elements may be easily and rapidly applied in the configuration desired to an object.

It is another object of our invention to provide a simple inexpensive hand tool which may be mechanically guided to apply an adhesive tension element to an object in the configuration desired.

These and other objects are attained by providing a simple tool having a roller with a sufliciently wide periphery mounted upon the handle. The handle also carries a thread guide and may in addition have one or more guide rollers. The cord or tension element is previously provided with adhesive and passes through the thread guide onto the roller which presses the roller or tension element into contact with and adheres to the element wherever desired.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of the invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an applicator tool embodying one form of our invention;

Figure 2 is a view in elevation of the tool; and

Figure 3 is a bottom view of the tool.

For the purpose of illustrating one use of our applicator tool, there is shown in Figure 1 an enclosing wall 20 of a tank having an edge portion 22. Within this wall of the tank 20 there is provided a top wall 24 which preferably rests upon an inner shoulder projecting inwardly from the wall 20 beneath the edge 22. It is proposed to apply the adhesive tension element 26 to cover the crevice between the edges of the top wall 24 and the adjacent inner wall surface of the wall 20. The purpose of providing this adhesive tension element or cord 26 is to hold the top sheet 24 in place while the edges 22 are being folded over the edges of the top wall 24 to hold the top wall 24 in place so that it forms in conjunction with the Wall 20 a tank. This operation is quite diflicult to perform easily by hand without the aid of any tools. It is difficult to get the element 26 down at the bottom in the corner formed between the sheet 24 and the adjacent inner wall surface of the wall 20.

According to our invention we provide a simple tool to do this. This tool includes a handle 28. This handle 28 has a hollow T-portion 30. A transverse support 32 is provided beneath the T-portion 30. Fastened to this transverse support 32 is a stem 34 which extends through the T-portion 30. The upper end of the stem 34 is threaded and is provided with a nut 36 and a lock nut 38 "ice 2. to hold the support 3 2 and the sten 1,34. in -position 0,1 the 'F-porti on 30. The T-portion 3.0. has a conical lower projection which extends intothe interiorof the ball bearing 40 so. as to contact the. balls within the bearing 40.- The conical projection constitutes the inner race for the ll .0 h l g heouter rac e t upon e s pp rt 32. By this arrangement the ball bearing 4Qreduces. the rotating friction between the, transverse support .32- and the IF-portion 30, whereby the support is pivotallyrnounted withr peq t he hand e.

otetably moun p nth pinAZ is a er Th roller 44 is madeof; metal or plastie. However, I prefer. to make this roller of a polymeric amide plastic known by h am onno her uitab e plast t al is.

polytetrafluoroethylene, also known as teflou. This roller 44 isgenerally. cylindrical in, Shape with a; slight :taper toward its lower edge. Thislowe fedgeis. flush 'withthe bottom of the pin 42 on whichit rotates, The'bottom this. o r 4.- s s ic nt moo h. and, fri tionless a it will slide easily upon the surface of the top24.

Fastened by a bracket to the support 32 is a thread guide 46 supporting a tapered helical wire 48. This tapered helical wire 48 guides the adhesive tension element or cord 26 to the thread guide 46 which in turn guides the adhesive to the lower peripheral surface of the roller 44. The roller 44 rolls the adhesive element or cord onto the inner surface of the wall 20 as shown in Figures 1 and 3 as the roller 44 is moved along the surface of the sheet 24 in contact with the wall 20.

A second roller 54 of metal or plastic but preferably of the same material, polymeric amide, as the roller 44 is provided on the support 32. This roller 54 is rotatably mounted upon the pin 56 at the end of one arm of the support 32. Pivotally connected to this support 32 above the roller 54 is an arm 58 carrying at its outer end a roller 60. This roller 60 may be made of metal or plastic but preferably is made of the same material as the other rollers, polymeric amides. Extending between this end of the arm 58 and the second arm of the support 32 is a tension coil spring 62 anchored to a screw or bolt 64 upon the support 32. The edge 22 of the wall 20 is located between the roller 44 and the other two rollers 54 and 60 as shown in Figure 3. The spring 62 applies suflicient tension to the arm 58 to assure the pulling of the roller 44 toward the edge 22 with suflicient force to apply the adhesive cord 26 to the interior of the wall 20. It keeps the tool following the edge 22.

By first threading the tool and pressing the first part of the adhesive cord into contact with the wall 20 at the proper place the adhesive cord 26 is applied to the proper place merely by grasping the handle 28 and by moving the tool around the edge 22. The stem 34 and the nuts 36 and 38 are enclosed in a suitable cover 66 of some suitable plastic which is mounted upon a T-portion 35) as shown in Figures 1 and 2. For the purpose of illustrating the construction, this cover 66 is transparent.

Various types of tension elements may be applied by our tool such as adhesive cord, sealing cord, solid and stranded soft wire, twine and rope.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted as may come within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. An applicator including a handle, a support pivotally mounted beneath the handle upon an axis of rotation, a plurality of rollers spaced apart and rotatably mounted upon said support upon axes parallel to said axis of rotation, one of said rollers having a wide peripheral portion extending to the extreme axial part of this one roller, said support being provided with thread guide means for guiding a tension element into contact with said one roller.

2. An applicator including a handle, a support pivotally mounted beneath the handle upon an axis of rotation, a plurality of rollers spaced apart and rotatably mounted upon said support upon axes parallel to said axis of rotation, one of said rollers having an internal recessed hearing supported in an overhanging arrangement by said support and having a wide peripheral portion extending at least as far as the most extreme projection of the bearing, said support being provided with thread guide means for guiding a tension element into contact with said one roller.

3. The method of applying a thin adhesive sealing bead to a running right angled shoulder having a width at least several times greater than any cross-sectional dimension of the bead which includes rolling a generally cylindrical roller progressively along one face of the shoulder with the face of the roller moving very close to and along the other face of the shoulder and feeding the sealing head to the periphery of the roller immediately adjacent said face directly in advance of the theoretical line of contact so that the bead is rolled onto the shoulder adjacent the intersection of the faces thereof.

4. An applicator including a handle, a support pivotally mounted beneath the handle upon an axis of rotation, a plurality of rollers spaced apart and rotatably mounted upon said support upon axes parallel to said axis of rotation, one of said rollers having an internal recessed bearing supported in an overhanging arrangement by said support and having a Wide peripheral portion extending at least as far as the most extreme projection of the bearing, said support being provided with thread guide means for guiding a tension element into contact with said one roller, said support being generally perpendicular to its axis of rotation and said rollers being mounted beneath said support with their lower faces generally in the same plane.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,061,922 Ross Nov. 24, 1936 2,495,680 Andrews Jan. 31, 1950 2,500,053 Andrews Mar. 7, 1950 2,556,609 Arkless June 12, 1951 2,579,063 Andrews Dec. 18, 1951 2,598,900 Frye June 3, 1952 2,677,633 Gross May 4, 1954 

